Dispensing device and packaging machine



Dec. 1, 197G L. E. MOON DISPENSING DEVICE AND PACKAGING MACHINE FiledSept. 50, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 [/V M54772 165767? 6. May

3 rial -38 Dec. 1, 1970 L. E. MOON A 3,543,475

DISPENSING DEVICE AND PACKAGING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Shegt 1:

FIG 4 :9 f/vnevwvpx 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 L. E. MOON DISPENSING DEVICE ANDPACKAGING MACHINE FiG.7

Dec. 1, 1970 Filed Sept. 30

Dec. 1, 1978 L. E. MOON DISPENSING DEVICE AND PACKAGING MACHINE FiledSept. 30, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 W Y w n 5 0 m m 2 5 a w v V 4, z f a m yz m w Q 2 I Q /m L 6 LJIL m g 5 6 fl 8' w, m L m I12 Y I a f M O m Cr3,543,475 DISPENSING DEVICE AND PACKAGING MACHINE Lester E. Moon, St.Louis County, Mo., assignor to Framton Foods, Inc., St. Louis, Mo., acorporation of Missouri Filed Sept. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 763,749 Int. Cl.B65b 57/06, 57/14, 61/06 US. CI. 53-55 14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE An article dispensing device for attachment to a packagingmachine having a shear automatically separating and discharging onearticle in response to a signal from the packaging machine indicatingmeasurement and discharge of product for packaging, and having controlelements automatically advancing sequentially connected articles intoposition for separating and discharging the next successive article.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to thepackaging art and more particularly to a device for separating anddispensing discrete items from a continuous tape for packaging Withmeasured products.

In the past several years it has become a common practice in themerchandising of various consumer products, such as soaps or detergents,breakfast cereals, prepared cake mixes, snack items and the like, forthe manufacturer to insert into each box, bag or other package a premiumarticle, advertising, recipes, coupon or the like. In some cases thispractice is restricted to selected production runs of the consumercommodity, and in other cases the practice has grown into a continuousprocess for inducing product recognition and sales.

Although various devices have been developed for insering these variousitems into consumer product packaging, these devices have not beenversatile or adaptable to a broad packaging spectrum and the insertionof premiums has remained, to a large extent, a hand operation involvinga sizable labor cost and substantially slower production rates thancanbe achieved by modern packaging machines. In the past the devices forautomatically inserting premium items have included manually loadedbuckets arranged to discharge a series of articles into successivedetergent containers or the like on a moving conveyor and in timedrelation with the travel thereof, or complex sorting and conveyingequipment making a random selection and discharge of premiums intoproduct filled containers and in timed relation with the conveyormovement thereof. In short, the prior art base required manualoperation, either direct packaging or loading of dispensing devices, orhas been too complicated and expensive; particularly for intermittent orselective production runs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is embodied in a dispensingdevice for sequentially separating and dispensing articles for packagingwith products, including drive means for advancing a continuous andinterconnected series of articles, sensing means responsive to theposition of such articles for stopping the drive means, cutting meansfor severing the leading article from said series of articles, andcontrol means responsive to product measurement for operating cuttingmeans and restoring said other means to an operative condition for thenext dispensing operation.

"United States Patent One of the principal objects of the presentinvention is to provide a device for separating discrete items carriedat longitudinally spaced intervals on a tape and introducing such itemsinto packages of other objects. Another object is to provide a simple,eflicient dispensing device adaptable for use with conventional machinesfor packaging products measured by weight, volume or numericalaccumulation in a pre-measuring unit for subsequent discharge through afeed or delivery chute into any suitable container for such product, andin which the dispensing device is responsive to the measuring anddischarge of product for simultaneously dispensing individual articlesinto the product containers.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For purposes of illustration anddisclosure the invention is embodied in the parts and in thearrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described andclaimed. In the accompanying drawings which form part of thespecification and wherein like numerals and letters refer to like partswherever they occur:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view illustrating a typical packaging machineand the relationship therewith of a dispensing device embodying thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the dispensing device taken fromthe side opposite to that shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end elevational view, partly broken away, showing thedischarge end of the dispensing device;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the dispensing device;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the dispensing device;

FIG. 6 is a view taken substantially along line 6-6 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 77 of FIG. 2;and

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the electrical circuit forming part ofthe dispensing device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention isembodied in an article dispensing device 2 adapted for attachment,either for temporary or permanent installation, to and concurrentoperation with a conventional machine 4 for packaging a pre-measured, byweight, volume or numerical accumulation, of a consumer commodity. Thedispensing device 2 is dependent upon the operation of the packagingmachine 4 to dispense premium items or the like for simultaneouspackaging with the consumer product.

As diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1, a typical packaging machine 4selected for disclosure of the invention is designed to form bags fromcellophane, plastic or like roll stock and to package pretzels basedupon a predetermined weight measurement. The machine 4 includes ajaw-type sealing assembly 6 reciprocally mounted on a frame 8 fordrawing an extended length of sheet cellophane 10 from a roll (notshown) and shaping it over a curved plow 12 to form a transition of thesheet material into a tubular configuration 13, in which the sidemargins are heat sealed together and, at equally spaced intervals, theopposed bag walls of the tubular configuration are transversely heatsealed together to form individual connected packages 14 and, whenfilled, the machine 4 subsequently severs the individual packages 14from one another by cutting through the transverse heat seals. Thetransition 12 from sheet stock 10 to tubular form 13 is shaped over thecurved plows 12 around the outer surface of a filling hopper 16, whichis also carried by the reciprocal sealing assembly 6. The filling hopper16 is fed by a trough 18 swingably mounted on the machine frame 8 tofollow the vertical shifting movement of the hopper 16, and the trough18 is provided with a measured amount of the pretzel product from ascale bucket 20 mounted on the frame 8 above it. The bottom of the scalebucket 20 is normally closed by a bucket door 22 adapted to open througha suitable mechanism at the upper pOSltion of the sealing assembly 6 andthe hopper 16 (as shown in broken lines in FIG. 1). The machine 4further includes means for delivering the pretzel product to the scalebucket 20 and weight sensing means associated with the bucket 29 forstopping the feed after a predetermined amount of pretzels have beenmeasured, but such means and the other structure of the conventionalmachine 4 are unnecessary to an understanding of the present invention.

The dispensing device 2 is adapted to introduce an individual article orpremium item 160 into each package 14 formed by the packaging machine 4and, for disclosure purposes, these items 160 are encapsulated atequally spaced intervals in a continuous tape 162. The tape, as shown,comprises two layers of cellophane that are heat sealed to circumscribethe items 160, the heat sealing including later ridges or corrugations163 to facilitate driving engagement and movement of the tape 162through the dispensing device 2. In addition, the width of one sidemargin 164 of the tape 162 is preferably wider than the driving means ofthe device 2. It will be understood that the form of the tape 162 andarrangement of articles 160 therein is not to be construed as limitinginasmuch as paper, cloth, plastic, cellophane or other materials may beemployed as a carrier for various items, or a series of articles may beformed with an interconnecting guide and carrier strip adapted to theteachings of this invention. However, it will be apparent that thedisclosed form of tape 162 lends itself to sterilization and handlingunder the necessary sanitary conditions required for packaging foodproducts.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 2-7 of the drawings, the dispensingdevice 2 is mounted on the main frame 8 of the packaging machine 4superjacent to the filling hopper 16 and has an article dispensing ordischarge means comprising a delivery chute 96 in position to dischargethe items 160 into the hopper 16. The dispensing device 2 includes amain housing 30 forming a control panel housing and main supportingframe, the housing 30 having four peripheral walls 32 integrally formedwith a back wall 34 and being provided with an access door 36 hinged onthe lower peripheral wall 32. The upper peripheral wall 32 is bolted toa support member 38 which projects outwardly from the frame 8 andsupports the entire dispensing device 2 on the packaging machine 4(FIGS. 1, 3 and 6). A support and feed table or plate 40 projectsoutwardly from the back wall 34 of the housing 30, the table 40 havingan upwardly turned marginal flange 42 secured to the back wall 34 and,at the other side, a downwardly turned marginal flange 44 is providedwith a longitudinal slot 46. It will be apparent that the housing 30 andtable 40 accommodate the various operative mechanisms of the dispensingdevice 2 for feeding a continuous series of the items 160 from asuitable source (not shown) across the table 40, and for separating anddischarging individual items into the hopper 16 to the product bags 14in timed relation with the discharge of product into the bags 14. Thesevarious mechanisms include cutting means 24 adjacent to the discharge ordelivery chute 96, drive means 26 for actuating the feeding of the tape162 and contained items 160, sensing means 28 for orienting the items160 on the table 40 relative to the cutting means 24, in addition tomeans for guiding the tape onto and across the table and control meansfor these mechanisms.

The sensing mechanism 28 is mounted on a U-shaped frame 52 having anintermediate leg 48 with a threaded end adjustably secured in theelongated slot 46 of the table flange 44 by jam nuts 50. The upper leg51 of the frame 52 is provided with a photoelectric lamp or transmitter54 capable of emitting a narrow light beam toward the plate 40 andthrough a transparent pane 58 formed from clear plastic or the like insuch table. The opposite leg 53 carries a photoelectric cell 56 orreceiver disposed in vertical alignment with the light beam emitted bythe lamp 54. The transparent pane 58 extends longitudinally in the plate40 the approximate length of the slot 46 and also has a substantiallateral width to accommodate both longitudinal and lateral adjustment ofthe sensing means 28 relative to the table 40.

The forward or discharge end of the mounting plate 40 is secured to amounting bar '60 (FIGS. 24, 5) which is welded to and projects outwardlyfrom the back wall 34 of the housing 30. A shear plate 62 is secured tothe upper surface of the bar 60 and has its upper surface coplanar withthe upper surface of the plate 40. The shear plate 62 comprises part ofthe cutting means 24, and the leading edge of the shear plate 62 iswiped by a shear knife 63, which projects through a slit 64 in the backwall 34, and is pivotally mounted on a tab 66 attached to the back wal34. A mounting arm 68 (FIG. 3) is secured on the back wall 34 andextends above the housing 30, and at its upper end the arm 68 isprovided with a bifurcated bracket 70 to which the barrel of an aircylinder 72 is pinned. The air cylinder 72 is of con ventionalconstruction and has an interval piston (not shown) and a piston rod 74pinned at its outer end to the shear knife 63. When the piston and rod74 is retracted, the knife 63 will be positioned above the shear plate62. However, when the piston and rod 74 are actuated downwardly, theblade 63 is moved across the leading edge of the plate 62 to cut theleading item 160 from the tape 162. The air cylinder 72 is verticallyadjustable by changing the position of the mounting arm 68 so that theknife 63 can be precisely positioned with respect to the plate 62.

The drive means 26 for feeding the tape 162 across the table 40 includesa drive roll 84 and a pressure roll 86.

A downwardly and rearwardly extending bearing tab 76 (FIGS. 2 and 4) inwhich the outer end of a drive shaft 78 is journaled is secured on theouter end of the mounting bar 60. The drive shaft 78 extends beneath theplate 40 and at its inner end projects through the back wall 34 into thehousing 30 and is connected to the output of a gear reduction motorunit, shown generally at 80 and of a well-known type. The motor unit 80is internally fitted with a typical brake to prevent coasting of thedrive train. A sprocket 82 is carried on the shaft 78 and the driveroller 84 is mounted on the shaft 78 and has a knurled outer surface,the upper arcuate segment of which projects through an opening 85 in thetable 40 so that a portion of this highly frictional peripheral surfaceis always present at, or slightly above, the upper surface of the table40. The pressure roller 86 is formed of hard rubber and is carried on aspindle 88, which projects through an arcuate slit 90 in the back wall34 and is rigidly secured to a swing arm 92 (FIG. 6) pinned to the wall34. The pressure roller 86 is biased against the exposed segment of thedrive roller 84 by a spring 94. The cutting means 24 also includes aguide or hold-down shoe 61 mounted on the back wall 34 adjacent to theshear 63 to hold the tape 162 against the shear plate 62 and preventbuckling of the tape 162 during operation of the shear 63. In addition,an angularly and laterally adjustable holddown pin 123 is provided onthe pressure roll shaft 88 and has its free end disposed opposite to theshoe 61 and slightly above the tape 162 to cooperate in preventingbuckling of the tape during the cutting operation of shear 63.

Associated with the drive means 26 is a feed roller 104 formed of arelatively spongy, yieldable material and adapted to guide the premiumarticles from the source onto the table 40. In fact, the yieldableroller 104 easily accommodates the translation of direction of articlefeeding from different angles to a horizontal position on the table 40and, as shown in FIG. 2, the table 40 is tangentially aligned with theupper surface of the feed roller 104. The roller 104 is mounted on adrive shaft 100 journaled in a sleeve bearing 102 (FIG. 6) secured tothe adjacent end peripheral wall 32, and intermediate to the sleevebearing 102 and the back wall 34 the drive shaft 100 is provided with asprocket 106 driven from the sprocket 82 by a roller chain 108. Therollers 84 and 104 are driven in the same direction when the gear motor80 is energized, and the sprocket ratio and roller diameters are allsuch that the rollers 84 and 104 will rotate at the same peripheralvelocity.

The table 40 is provided with one or more guide pins 112 which projectupwardly from slotted arms 114 secured to the table 40 by mountingscrews 116. The spacing between the pins 112 and the upwardly turnedtable flange 42 can be altered by both pivoting the arms 114 about thescrews 116 and by sliding the arms 114 inwardly or outwardly on thescrews 116 in order to form an adjustable guide channel for the tape162. Similarly, adjacent to the feed roller 104 is another guide pin 118having a collar 120 adjustably mounted on a stud 122 projectingoutwardly from the back wall 34.

As will be seen by reference to FIG. 6, the housing 30 encases the motorunit 80, a photoelectric control unit 124, a time-delay relay 126 and anair control unit 127 including a valved air pressure reservoir 128, apressure regulator 130 and a solenoid actuated air valve 132. A flexibleair line 133 with a quick-connect coupling 134 connects a suitablesource of pressurized air through the pressure regulator 130 to thereservoir 128 and thence to the three-way air valve 132. The air valve132 normally has its internal valve element (not shown) turned toconnect the air reservoir 128 with the lower retraction side of the aircylinder 72 through conduit 135R to maintain the shear 63 in retractedinoperative position. However, to actuate the shear 63, the solenoid ofthe valve 132 is energized to reverse the position of the valve elementand connect the air reservoir 128 through conduit 135A to the top of theair cylinder 72 above its internal piston, and simultaneously to exhaustthe retraction side of the cylinder 72 to atmosphere. It will beapparent that, in lieu of the double air system for actuation andretraction, the air cylinder 72 may have a spring return pistonarrangement of known construction. The housing 30 is also provided witha master control switch 136.

Referring now to FIG. 8 wherein the electrical control circuit for thedispensing device 2 is diagrammatically shown, the main circuit isconnected to main electrical lines 138 through a connector plug 154 and,when the master switch 136 is closed, a circuit is completed throughamplifier 146 to amplify the light beam signal of the sensing means 28.During transmission the photocell 54 closes a circuit to energize acontrol relay 148 and closes its normally open contacts 140 to completethe normal circuit to the electric motor unit 80. The control relay 148also has a set of normally closed contacts 152 in the circuit of thevalve 132 of the air system for shear 63. Therefore, when the relay 148is de-energized by interruption of the light 'beam by an article 160,the photocell 54 opens the circuit to relay 148 and breaks the contacts140 to stop the motor unit 80 and simultaneously the contacts 152 areclosed to condition the cutting means 24 for operation. An ancillarycircuit is provided through the master switch 136 in which the packagingmachine control switch 21 is connected through plug 156 in the circuitto the cutting means 24. The air valve 132 is conditioned for operationof the shear 63 by closing of the contatcs 152 and is responsive to theclosing of switch 21 to complete the circuit whereby discharge ofproduct by the packaging machine 4 also actuates the cutting means 24 toseparate and dispense the leading article 160 from the tape 162. Whenthe switch 21 opens after discharge of the product, the circuit to thesolenoid (not shown) of air valve 132 is broken and the spring return ofthe valve connects the retraction air conduit R to retract the knife 63.

The time delay relay 126 has a set of normally open contacts 142 and anassociated relay has normally closed contacts 144, the two sets ofcontacts 142 and 144 being in a motor circuit shunting the relaycontacts 140. The relays 126 and 150 are in parallel with the air valve132 and are energized during the short time that the auxiliary circuitis completed through the switch 21. The relay 150 opens its contacts 144to positively prevent operation of the motor unit 80 during the cuttingoperation, and the contacts 144 close at the time of retraction of theshear 63. The time delay relay 126 closes its contacts 142 and has aself-holding circuit so that the relay coil 126 will remain energizedafter the switch 21 opens. Accordingly, following the cutting operationthe shunt circuit through the contacts 142 and 144 is completed for ashort time to operate the motor 80 and advance the tape 162 so thatlight transmission to the photocell 54 is re-established and motoroperation is continued through the contacts 140 of the relay 148. Therelay 126 times out and opens its holding circuit and the contacts 142.

In preparing the device 2 for operation, the tape 162 is positioned overthe fed roll 104 with the wide heat seal 164 adjacent to the wall 34 andalong the plate 40 between the guide pins 112 and the upturned flange42. It should be noted that the guide pins 112 and 118 delineate apredetermined path across the plate 40 and are adjusted so that lateraldisplacement of the tape is restricted to a minimum but longitudinalmovement is unimpeded. The pressure roller 86 is raised away from thedrive roller 84 and the wide heat seal 164 of the tape 162 is passedunder the shoe 61 and pin 123 and between the shear knife 63 and plate62 and positioned so that the shear 63 will cut the tape equidistantbetween the leading and next successive articles 160. The U-shaped frame52 is adjusted both longitudinally and laterally by manipulating the jamnuts 50 until the light beam of the sensing means 26 is obstructed bythe leading portion of an article 160 overlying the transparent pane 58.

It is believed that the operation of the dispensing device 2 inconjunction with the packing machine 4 will be readily apparent from theforegoing description of structure, function and inter-relationship ofparts, and that this novel device 2 for correlating premium insertionwith product packaging both meets the objects sought to be attained andwill be fully understood by those skilled in the art.

This invention is intended to cover all changes and modifications of theexample of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosureand is to be limited only by the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic device for accommodating the insertion of individualarticles into packages concurrently with the product filling saidpackages by a packaging machine, comprising drive means adapted toadvance a series of interconnected articles along a predetermined path,cutting means adapted to separate the leading article from said seriesof articles, sensing means responsive to the position of successivearticles in said series for stopping said drive means to orient saidleading article in position for actuation of said cutting means, andcontrol means including means responsive to the operation of saidpackaging machine for actuating said cutting means and for starting saiddrive means to advance said series of articles.

2. The device according to claim 1 wherein the articles are on acontinuous tape at longitudinally spaced intervals and wherein thecutting means severs the tape intermediate the articles thereon.

3. The device according to claim 2 wherein the tape is transparent, thearticles are substantially opaque, and the sensing means comprises alamp positioned to emit a beam of light through the transparent tape anda photoelectric cell positioned on the opposite side of the tape inalignment with the beam, whereby when an article intersects the beam thelight beam will be interrupted.

4. The device according to claim 3 wherein the drive means includes anelectric motor, and wherein the control means further includes a firstrelay responsive to light conduction of the photoelectric cell forclosing a normally open set of contacts to complete the circuit to themotor.

5. The device according to claim 1 wherein the path is defined in partby a supporting plate across which the series of articles is advanced,and wherein the drive means includes a roller, the periphery of which isdisposed adjacent to the top surface of the plate where it engages anddrives the articles, and pressure means for urging the tape against thedrive roller.

6. The device according to claim 5 wherein the pres sure means is apressure roller journaled on a spindle which is shiftable toward andaway from the driver roller, and wherein a spring normally urges thepressure roller toward the drive roller.

7. The device according to claim 5 wherein the cutting means includes ashear plate rigid with respect to the supporting plate and disposedgenerally transverse to the path, and a shiftable knife adapted to moveacross an edge of the plate and cut the tape extending over that edge.

8. The device according to claim 7 wherein the cutting means includes anair system for actuating said knife across the edge of the shear plate,and wherein the control means includes a solenoid operated air valve foradmitting air to the cylinder.

9. The device according to claim 7 in which the articles are carried onflexible tape means, including hold-down means disposed above the platesintermediate the drive means and the cutting means, whereby the tapemeans is prevented from buckling upwardly during actuation of saidcutting means.

10. The device according to claim 5 including a feed roller located inthe path in spaced relation to the drive roller and having itsperipheral surface arranged tangentially to the upper surface of thesupporting plate, the feed roller revolving with and at the sameperipheral velocity as the drive roller.

11. The device according to claim 5, including adjustable guide meansfor altering the width of the predetermined path, at least one of saidguide means projecting upwardly from the supporting plate.

12. A device according to claim 3 wherein the predetermined path isdefined in part by a supporting plate across which the tape is advanced,the plate having a transparent pane through which the light beam of saidsensing means is transmitted, and sensing means being carried inalignment on a bracket adapted for longitudinal and lateral adjustmentwith respect to the path to accommodate selevtive orientation of theleading article relative to said cutting means.

13. In combination with a packaging machine having filling means fordischarging a predetermined amount of a product into a containertherefor, a dispensing device for introducing into the containers withthe products articles supplied in a continuous and interconnectedseries, said device comprising drive means for advancing the continuousand interconnected series of articles along a predetermined path,sensing means responsive to the position of the articles on the path forstopping the drive means, detaching means for separating the leadingarticle from the series of articles, and control means responsive to thefilling means and sensing means for operating the detaching means andfor causing the drive means to advance the series of articles, so thatthe dispensing device is conditioned to dispense another article.

14. A device according to claim 13 wherein the packaging machineoperates cyclically and includes a receptacle in which the predeterminedamount of product is accumulated, a door on the receptacle for retainingthe product in the receptacle, and means for opening the door atpredetermined time in the cycle of the packaging machine so that thepredetermined amount of product will be advanced for packaging, andwherein the control means is responsive to the means for opening thereceptacle door and actuate the detaching means simultaneously with theopening of the door.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,655,777 10/1953 Hagen 5355 X3,091,063 5/1963 Brock 5364 3,204,329 9/1965 Sweeney 9336.9 X 3,331,1827/1967 Hannon 9336.9 X 3,382,644 5/1968 Vogt 53--l23 X 3,411,767 11/1968Moser 5351 X 3,421,284 1/1969 Zemek 5359 3,477,196 11/1969 Lerner 5359 XFOREIGN PATENTS 930,544 7/1963 Great Britain.

WAYNE A. MORSE, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

